Sound Lure Project - Summary of 2019

The project stared during the 2019 Calendar Year.  Much of the detail of the project is contained within the 'Auro Rangers/Innovator Slideshow'.   This slide show details the start of the project and its development from a basic school project into the 123 Tech Competition Entry.  As the project began to progress it was obvious that the project would evolve further from this competition and also involve more specific work and information.

Above: Domestic Cat interacting with sound lure box. November 2019

In November 2019 the first of five units were deployed in the South Taranaki Area.   One unit was deployed at a river location, (location one) which had previously been monitored by a tracking camera.   When the sound lure was deployed at the site there was significant increase in the amount of pest animals that visited the site, including possums who had not previously been present.

One of the five lures was significantly damaged by water as a result of a significant amount of rainfall in November (60mm was recorded) that pooled in the storage box and caused the computer to stop working, another was held over for testing.   Three remained deployed and in use to test their effectiveness, robustness and viability.

Above: Possum climbing tree with sound lure November 2019

Location one showed significant evidence of pest species interacting with the lure.   The lure was in a shaded location, requiring the 'boosting' of the battery every three or so days.  This is being detailed in a separate post. 

Location two (first phase) was on a local farm belonging to one of the students - this was located on Rama Road.  At this site there was increased feral cat activity relating to the lure which had not previously been detected.  The first phase of deployment ended with the conclusion of the 2019 School Year and the 123 Tech Awards National Finals.  At that point the remaining lures were collected in and retired for the end of the school year.   Of the five units that were used in phase one, four of them were still working as of December 2019.       

The students had presented at Kapuni Fonterra during the school year, as a result of this the project was able to source an additional ten sound lure units to be deployed.   The intention at this stage (January 2020) is to deploy half of these units at New Plymouth Airport and half of these units at Lake Rotokare Reserve.

The start of phase two of the Sound Lure deployment will commence in January 2020 with a measured deployment at New Plymouth Airport.   These units will be deployed in conjunction with the New Plymouth Airport pest control program.